"...With all that said, Medina and I will go and confront Kayode about this." I take a look at the pendant in my hand and grip it slightly tighter. "Hopefully the pendant is enough to ward any hostility. If not, we'll take her down."
"Just you and Medina," Alice says with concern. "What of the rest of us?"
"I'm concerned about Deusolbert. If FIzel and Linel are here, most likely they were captured. We haven't heard much from the other knight. As their comrades, you should search the castle for him and the girls. You may even find the other missing children."
Eydis nods. "I must admit, you may be right. If those girls were freely roaming the castle, it is not their style to be...quiet. Our best bet is the dungeon."
"Wait. Jaymes, may I speak with you privately?" Sortiliena looks at me and gestures to the shelves behind her. Wondering what she has to say that can't be said publicly, I follow her to about the seventh row of books before she turns towards the left column. Once she believes we're out of earshot, she turns around and faces me with a frown. "Take Tiese and Ronie with you."
"What?"
"Besides the trip you took to the Northern Cave, you have placed them on assignments with little danger or with enough people to protect them. I do not know why you do so, or if you're intentionally doing it, but this is not helping them at all. At the academy, as a former student and Elite Disciple, we undertook missions that were dangerous but gave trainees experience in their studies. You are their teacher in place of Kirito and Eugeo, and I know you want to keep them safe because of them, but the best way to keep them safe is to expose them to danger and let them learn."
I hadn't intentionally been doing it, but now that I think about it, I have been keeping them away from anything I consider high-risk or placing them with Alice and Sortiliena. I don't normally consider the beasts strong by any means, but Kayode is a different story. I know exactly why I'm being overprotective. The last time I did this...was with Koharu. I helped her train in SAO back, but once it became a death game, I grew overprotective. With time, that ceased...then it returned when Lisbeth was almost killed, then again with Kureha, Zeliska, and Rei. And in this world, their world, death is permanent for the people of the Human Realm, while I'm (my true self) is invincible. However...the younger me would agree with Sortiliena.
"Koharu… Let's get stronger. Let's live and beat this thing!"
"But… I'm just slowing you down…
"No, you're not. You'll be way stronger in no time. Besides… You're the only one I can trust here."
"Really? Well, okay… Watch out, Jaymes! Cause I'll be stronger than you someday!"
"Ronie, Tiese," I address the pair when Sortiliena and I return to the table, "You're coming with me and Medina. However, if we do fight Kayode, proiritize yourselves over the fight, okay? If things get hairy, leave it to me and Medina. Got it?"
"Yes sir!"
"Understood!"
I nod and turn to Medina. "Any objections?"
She shakes her head. "None. Let's get this over and done with."
Kayode rises from her throne as we return to the throne room. "At last! Where is he? Where is my Alaud?"
I decide to be more respectful and tactful than I was earlier. "I'm afraid he's dead, Your Majesty."
"You CONTINUE to try to make a fool out of me? That cannot be. Alaud is the one thing that gives my life meaning. How could he die and I not know it?"
Medina steps forward. "Listen, Kayode, that's not all you've missed. Both of you passed away many, many years ago. You were brought back to life, but Alaud--"
Kayode slices the air with her hand. "Silence! Now you would accuse ME of being dead too? Then what are these memories? I remember the sound of his voice, the way he fiddled his fingers like yesterday… Zappas! Zappas… Why does no one come to me?"
"Because Zappas is dead too," I explain while walking forward. "Not a single person you knew is in this castle." I reach into my pocket and hold out Alaud's pendant. "And here's the proof. Alaud's pendant."
Kayode looks at it in surprise. "Why do you have that? I gave it to Alaud!"
"His grandson gave it to me."
"My tiny little boy...has a grandson, you say? Ahhh, I remember… That damned woman stole Alaud from me! That accursed commoner had the gull to seduce my child, and she paid for it!" Oh, this story just keeps unfolding in bigger and badder ways as Kayode's temper flares. "I remember everything now. My dearest Alaud is no longer with us, but he didn't die by that fool woman's side. No, he took his last breaths in this very castle."
"What?"
"According to the records, Alaud lost the succession and was exiled!"
"That's what his grandson said too."
"Do you truly believe history is an accurate record of the past? Reality is never as pretty as history."
Good point. "But then why would Alaud come back after being exiled?"
"He had no taste for conflict, so he chose to flee instead."
"So he never lost the succession, he abandoned the battle instead."
"And then he married some worthless common whore and played family with her. But I wouldn't let that stand! He was the onely one fit to be the next emperor! So I found him, brought him back, and reeducated him! I did everything for him to make sure he never strayed from the path. I locked him in the dungeon so he couldn't run, and educated him day after day. He bribed a guard to escape, so I stripped his nobility and executed judicial authority."
Ronie gasps. "You used judicial authority on your own son?"
"My education was flawless. He was mine in mind and body! Alaud had come back to me!"
"So how did he die?"
"One day, I brought him to the castle roof to celebrate all the progress he had made. but he jumped to his death! His education was almost complete! Why would he do that? It made no sense!"
"Call it 'education' all you want," Medina shouts, "but that's abuse! You killed your own child!"
Kayode scoffs at Medina's outburst. "You have no child of your own, so you wouldn't understand. I gathered children from all over the land with his hair and his eyes and his mouth. I wouldn't fail this time! I would make one of them into a worthy successor! A child who wouldn't abandon his mother! But try as I might...educating them only left me empty. No one smiled like he did. No one call me 'Mother' like he did! Neither my whip nor my branding iron could turn them into him. None of them were able to fill the void in my heart, so I…"
"You returned the 'failed' children to their parents, yes?" Tiese says hopefully while trying to hold in her emotions. "It's the Norlangrthian legend of the witch and the holy emperor. Empress Kayode is both the witch and the holy emperor, are you not?"
"So the whole legend is a giant farce, and Zappas' records were faked too?"
"All so you could cover up your serial kidnappings."
At the girls' comments, Kayode stands tall and laughs. "Psh… Ahahaha! Yes, yes, the 'witch'. How very shrewd of you commoners. So what if I'm a dead mad golem? That doesn not release me from my duty! And you haved in rebellion, for which you will be punished!"
"Rebels...can't say I hate being called that."
"Talking is getting us nowhere, Jaymes," Tiese says.
"Agreed."
"So long as this undead body lasts, I will continue my search! For my next Alaud! I shall find the perfect replacement and raise him into a worthy successor!"
"I believe you have other duties to attend to first."
What the hell? Who the...That voice sounds familiar, but Kayode recognizes it. "Ah, you again. The celestial emissary who ordered me to gather the children."
"Fourth Empress of the Norlangarth Empire, Kayode Norlangarth. Your attachment to life is what brought you back. Without it, you will degrade."
"Excuse me?" Sacred power suddenly begins to appear around Kayode's body, much like it has done from the monsters we've put down earlier. "Wh-What is this? I cannot afford to die yet! Not without seeing my Alaud!"
"Alaud is dead," Medina shouts. "You already admitted that!"
"Alaud! My beloved Alaud would never die! Without him, I have no reason to live!"
"What's going on," Ronie asks. "Why's her body suddenly deteriorating?"
"Her reason to live is no longer there, as the voice and the empress have both said. Alaud is dead, she accepted it, and this is the result."
"A reason to live," I barely hear Medina whisper.
"Who took your Alaud from your hands? Eradicate these rebels standing before you! And then, mayhap you shall be bestowed a true, living body!"
Sacred powers ceases to evaporate as Kayode glares at us. Instead, purple lightning flickers around her body. "Right, yes. You're the ones who stole my Alaud… You murdered my boy, not me! I am the empress Kayode Norlangarth! Where I am, Alaud must be as well! I will reclaim everything I have lost! You insignificant maggots shall not stand in my way!" Reaching behind her, Kayode brandishes a long whip and cracks it threateningly at us. "Now, I shall wipe you from my empire and take back my beloved Alaud!"
"Very well, then." I draw my sword and look at the two girls behind me. "Remember what I said, okay?
"Yes, Jaymes," Ronie says as she holds her blade and pairs up with Medina. "We won't be a bother for both of you."
Tiese takes her position beside me. "We will do our best!"
Medina twirls her katana as she takes her stance. "For House Orthinanos… Kayode, your evil plot is done!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the castle
"Oh my goddesses…" Sortiliena gasps as she and the Integrity Knights enter the dungeon and bear witness to the horrible sight within. The children, wrapped and hung in a mass of thorns. "This is horrible."
"The thorns were coming from this Clamp, it seems. Eydis, Sortiliena, free the children. I'll kill the Clamp." Alice takes a few swings at the nearby Clamp, destroying it while Sortiliena and Eydis take hold of the kids and lay them on the stone floor.
Eydis opens a Stacia window and checks the life of each of the children. "Everyone's Life is almost at zero! Alice, can you heal them?"
"I'll start."
"Did Kayode do this to the children," Sortiliena inquires. "No, that doesn't sound like her. I believe the legend of the witch and holy emperor is based on her, and, as horrible the story is, not one part talk about the 'witch' endangering the children's lives."
"Then who did? And for what purpose?"
"They'll pay for it," Eydis angrily says as she steps towards a second set of descending steps. Once she gets there, she gasps again. "Alice, I found Linel and Fizel. Caught, as expected...frozen and surrounded by flame arrows." Eydis, joined by Sortiliena, walks down and inspects the trainees. They're in the same condition, but not as bad as the other children. But the thorns around them are an issue, as the flames can be extinguished, and she can awaken them from Deep Freeze. "We took out what we believed to be the Core. How are other Clamps present? As for these flames."
"Eydis… Over there."
Eydis looks behind the captured trainees to the dark far end of the dungeon. Another Clamp grows on the wall, and just below it… "Deusolbert!"
Alice rejoins the duo and sees Deusolbert in the other room. "This is the same thing that happened to Eldrie. But why?"
"Free Linel and Fizel first." Eydis works on waking the trainees while Alice cuts them free. Moments later, the girls start to stir.
"Where are we...Alice! Eydis!"
"What happened to you?"
Fizel ignores the question. "Boss! You need to help our boss!"
"The masked man, he…"
Eydis groans. "Is that guy everywhere? Deusolbert first. Sortiliena?
Sortilena nods. "I'll watch over them. You grab your comrade." Alice and Eydis venture towards Deusolbert, and Eydis releases him from Deep Freeze while Alice frees him. Eydis grabs him and sets him on the floor, shaking his shoulder to wake him.
"Deusolbert…"
"Deusolbert…"
"Someone...is shaking my shoulder… But I know that hand is long lost to me. As hard as I try to remember...as hard as I wish for it...it will never return."
"That's right. You failed to protect her."
Deusolbert opens his eyes in the endless darkness, seeing he is no longer alone. A woman, at the peak of youth and beauty, stands before him, her iliac eyes staring up at him. "Is that you, Lady Pontifex?"
"Everything you have sought to protect, you destroyed with your own hands."
"No… That's not true, I…"
"If not, then why did you let it out of your hands?"
"I...did?"
"You did. You let go of something precious, and now you cannot remember what it was."
"No… I…"
Two young girls appear behind the Pontfex, both looking up to Deusolbert. "Boss! What are you doing?"
"It's time for training, Boss!"
"Fizel Linel…" The world flashes red, and the girls drop at Deusolbert's feet. He kneels down in worry, but the blood won't stop spilling from their bodies. Did he do this? "H-How?"
"You found yourself some shoddy substitutes to satisfy your protective instincts," Administrator says from behind Deusolbert. "How did it feel to safeguard a few small children? Was it fun?"
"Stop! That's not what they are to me!"
"But you've already gone and destroyed them as well. Would you accuse me, the Pontifex, the Administrator, of spreading falsehoods?" Deusolboert suddenly feels a crippling pain in his right eye, screaming in agony as he hears the Pontifex's cruel laughter. "Oh, you sweet thing. Your poor, beautiful little man. I will tell you this one thing: There is nothing left in this world for you to protect.
"She's right. I… I lost everything. For what… For what purpose do I fight?"
"What do you think an Integrity Knight should fight for?"
Deusolbert stands as the pain in his eye subsides and faces the Pontifex. "We, the Integrity Knights...take up our swords for one purpose. We offer oursleves to guard the human realm and Her Eminence, Lady Pontifex."
Quinella nods. "Correct. That is your one and only purpose in life, Deusolbert."
"Deusolbert, can you hear me," Alice says as she stands up and lets the awakening man gather himself. Slowly he stands up and looks at Eydis and Alice before surprising them both with a swirl of fire. Luckily the girls manage to avoid the sudden attack.
"What the… Deusolbert!"
"Eydis, look! His Piety Module...why is it out?"
Deusolbert draws his bow and aims an arrow of fire at the pair. "I am… I am the Integrity Knight Deusolbert, Synthesis Seven, here to fulfill my duty! By command of the Pontfex, I shall hereby incinerate the rebels with my flames!"
Eydis sighs and grips her katana. "Looks like we'll have to fight him."
Alice nods. "He's strong, but we've got to bring him back to his senses somehow."
"Don't hold back, Alice. If he gets through us, no telling what he may do to the others. No matter what reservations you may possess, remember that you are an Integrity Knight! Fight like one, if it means protecting those kids!"
"Ludicrous! Face the wrath of my flame once again, heinous sinners!"
